BOOK REVIEW: Blowout. Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

Hello fellow readers, in this book review I’m covering a book by Rachel Maddow, the host of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. I am a huge fan of her show and now her books. The book Blowout, takes a hard look at oil and gas. Now, as you may know, I’m not into this genre. I enjoy mysteries, thrillers and suspense novels. However, I was intrigued by the topic of this book and how timely it was. The track playing behind my voice in this post is, Smooth As I Wanna Be, the title track from my most recent CD, and the rest of the tracks in this post are select tracks from my CD 10 and I’m Gonna Let It Ride. All available here and streaming on your favorite networks iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, Spotify, Pandora, CD Baby and other networks. Let’s dig into this review.


The Book Review

Blowout. Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth


The book Blowout takes a hard look at the oil and gas industry. She dives deep into the history of oil and gas going back to Rockefeller and moving forward all the way to fracking and all of the corruption this industry causes. This industry in some minds, is more powerful than any nation on the planet. The title of the book Blowout is a term used by oil people to describe when a rig builds up so much pressure, it explodes back up through the drilling rig. Which, in my mind is the perfect title for the book the industry and where we are today.

Rachel introduces the term “the Resource Curse”. When valuable resources are discovered in locations that are not prepared with the right management and over sites, corruption follows. When oil or gas is found, people states countries fall into the trap and greed takes over. Imagine, a geological report is printed, showing you are sitting on oil and gas. A gold mine under your very feet, everything changes. Next thing you know Exxon Mobil, Shell and every other oil company shows up knocking on your door with very large bags of cash. Some of the stories she details in this book are so corrupt they seem unbelievable but indeed are true and can be researched.

Blowout also spends a lot of time explaining how, Russia was hit with “the Resource Curse”. Making Oil and Gas a state controlled and owned industry, they put their economic future into it. Even after the US placed sanctions on Russia, companies like Exxon Mobil, still found ways to work around the sanctioned for profit. 

This book is an excellent read, very informative and backed up with great resources that you can simply Google. On my scale of 1 to 5, 1 being don’t bother and 5 a real page turner, I give Blowout, a 5. Rachel Maddow has done an amazing job and informing the public and sharing this important message everyone.


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R E Fort

Guitarist, keyboardist and songwriter. www.refort.co My motto: Without Music Life Has No Soul.

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